Tell It Again! Read-Aloud Anthology - EngageNY

19 An anchor is a heavy metal object
thrown overboard to keep the
ship from moving. [Show students
Image Card 5 (Anchor).]
The birds circled above as if examining the three ships, then
turned back in the direction from which they had come. “Follow
them,” Columbus ordered. “The birds will lead us to land.”
Soon the salty sea breezes began to carry a new scent their
way. “Could we be smelling the spices of Asia up ahead?” the
sailors asked one another, growing more and more excited. But
still they saw no land.
On the evening of Thursday, October 11, Columbus ordered the
ships to drop anchor, something they had not done on the entire
voyage. 19 “If we really are close to land,” he thought, “we might
be carried by the current up against the shore in the darkness and
never know until it’s too late.”
Show image 3A-9: Columbus spots land
20 The shore is the land at the edge of
a body of water. How do you think
Columbus will feel when he sees
the shore? What’s the fifth sign
that they are getting close to land?
21 [Show Image Card 6 (Cannon).]
A cannon is a weapon that fires
large metal balls at enemies and
makes a loud noise when it’s fired.
Why do you think the Pinta fired
its cannon? So which of the three
ships saw land first?
22 So what finally happened on
October 12, 1492? Describe what
you see the sailors doing in the
picture.
That night, walking the deck of the Santa María, he saw a light
in the distance. “It is too far away to be coming from the Pinta,” he
thought, knowing that the ship was anchored farther ahead of his
own. “And the light is too low in the sky to be a star. It must be a
fire set by some human being on a shore up ahead!” 20
A few hours later, in the early morning hours of October 12,
1492, Columbus heard the sound of a cannon. “It is coming from
the Pinta,” he thought. “They must have sighted land!” 21 Waiting
impatiently as the early light of dawn increased, he stared ahead
until he saw what the sailors on board the Pinta had seen: a long,
low shore on which the ocean waves were smoothly breaking.
The men of the Pinta were cheering, and a moment later, cheering
broke out aboard the Niña and the Santa María, too. 22
Show image 3A-10: Landing
23 or nicely
Dressing formally 23 for the occasion, and carrying a long flag
pole bearing the flag of Spain, Columbus and some of his men
rowed over the waves in a small boat to the shore of this new land.
Stepping out into the water, Columbus and the sailors stepped
ashore. By his calculations, Columbus believed he had landed on
the continent of Asia, in the Indies. Then, he plunged the flagpole
40 Columbus and the Pilgrims 3A | 1492
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